Schimmel Siamese & Oriental Cats are Oriental cat breeders based in Oxford, UK. We sometimes have Oriental and Siamese kittens for sale. We also have 2 Oriental Stud Cats and online kitten diaries.

Day 27 - February 13, 2005

All our Herbs are doing really well as you can tell (hopefully) by the photos below. Just like yesterday, I found it difficult to take photos because the little ones are just on the go all day long. I'm having a few problems telling the difference between Rosemary and Tarragon in all the photos, when I pick them up, I know which one is which, but it's much more difficult to see the differences between them in photos. They all play lots of delightful little games with each other now, such as: wrestling, limb biting, pouncing on, however, unlike previous litters, the Herbs are very gentle because I never hear any squeals from them when they are playing. Mind you, they are still quite young so there's always a chance that could change as they get older! The Herbs found a new mother today which didn't impress Amaretto very much. I had the door into the back room open and had put up a little barrier so our other cats can come in and out and sure enough, about 20 minutes later, one of our neuter girls, Cacao, decided to visit. One sniff of the babies was enough for her to make the decision that they were HERS and no one else's. Lo and behold she jumped straight in the box where Parsley, Rosemary and Chives were, and she started grooming them all over and then lay down hugging them while Amaretto looked on in total and utter disgust! The babies (little traitors that they are) were in their element at having a new mummy to love them. I did take Cacao out of the room and ended up closing the door again because my worry was that Amaretto might decide to no longer feed them as Cacao had been in her box. I felt rather bad for Cacao because she just fell in love with them straight away and was convinced they were hers. When I put her out of the room, I changed the bedding straight away to try and remove any scent of her having been in there and everything was fine. Amaretto was perfectly happy to continue to groom and feed them.

Day 26 - February 12, 2005

Well this isn't quite the day I had planned. I was supposed to actually be at a cat show today, however, my exhibit had a scratch in her ear, caused by her mother last night, so as a result I got go spend the day at home instead :) All little Herbs are doing very well and are making excellent weight gains, particularly Thyme who gained 17 grams in the last 24 hours which is great. It was really difficult to take photos today as the little darlings simply would not stand still so the photos aren't particularly wonderful but better than none at all. Our Herbs are now at the point where they need to start using the litter tray because they have been leaving me little "presents" in the bed now. Perfectly formed tiny little nuggets greeted me this morning so I've been putting the Herbs in their small litter tray off and on. From memory, I haven't really had to litter train previous litters (apart from my first), because the babies seem to just get the hang of it themselves by learning from their mum so I am hoping it will be the same this time around. Thyme found the litter tray rather fascinating, however, she also found the litter itself fascinating so she decided to eat it........poor starving little girl. The babies are now extremely mobile and there is no stopping them when they go off on their jaunts and all of us have to be so very careful because they get under our feet so quickly. As for getting in and out of the room or into the kitchen, well, it's virtually impossible because the babies like to follow all the humans so no matter where we try to walk, they come running along behind us and it's very difficult to close a door with one hand whilst trying to keep 6 babies on the other side. Having said that, it's all very normal for this stage of the Herb's development and it's really wonderful to see them so interested in their human family and wanting to be with us constantly.

Individual photos - 25 days old

Day 25 - February 11, 2005

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. That's really all I can say. Upon close study yesterday afternoon, I found to our disappointment that Sage is indeed a boy and not a girl. Graham and I are very disappointed as we were planning on keeping a Blue girl ourselves to add to our family however it's obviously not meant to be. Fortunately, all of our Orientals are capable of giving us a blue girl so perhaps within the next 6 months..... Anyway, as a result of me sexing them yesterday, there's been a few other surprise sex changes. I've now listed below each baby's sex and colour so that you all know just who is what.

name	breed	sex
Sage	Oriental Blue	Male
Parsley	Siamese	Male
Rosemary	Siamese	Female
Tarragon	Siamese	Male (bit unsure)
Thyme	Oriental Black	Female
Chives	Oriental Black	Female

Apart from some of the Herbs having had sex changes :) they are all doing very well, making good gains, even Thyme is doing better now thank goodness. I still have to keep the door closed as Amaretto insists on taking the babies to the lounge room however, I do still put her out of the room periodically for a rest which she seems to really enjoy. The Herbs are a difficult litter for her at the moment as they won't do as she tells them and they are too independent for her liking. One thing that amazes me with these babies is that they all know straight away what the word "babies" means. For example, if I go into the room and call "Babies", they all come flying out of the box, however, when they try to get in the kitchen and I say "No", they don't comprehend it at all! Due to the fact that I've been feeding them these last few days, the Herbs now see me as being almost as important as Amaretto for their food intake. This was proven this morning when I first came downstairs and opened the door to the back room. Before I had a chance to close the door, the Herbs were out of the box, and had all run straight over to me, running in between and around my feet, so they are now fully aware that once I make an appearance, breakfast isn't too far behind. I've now graduated to having 2 babies feed from the same plate at the same time which is a big help as individual feeding does take an incredibly long time. I am really pleased to say that Thyme gained 12 grams in the last 24 hours which is great news. She's (I keep having to remember now to refer to them by their correct sex) doing really well now and she really loves her food. At some point during the day today I'll be attempting to take individual photos of each baby so you will all know who is who.

Day 24 - February 10, 2005

After I'd fed the Herbs, I went in to put the washing on and when I came back, not only were the Herbs in the back room running about and squealing, but I could hear a tiny squeal coming from much further away. A quick count told me that I was missing a Siamese so I went in the direction of the voice which was coming from the loungeroom. After a 2 minute search I found poor little Parsley behind the lounge and he had no idea how or why he was there. Amaretto had obviously decided she didn't want them in the back room any longer! So from here onwards, the glass door to the back room has to stay shut. As soon as I had shut the door and sat down, Amaretto had a different Siamese in her mouth and was standing at the door with the poor little baby dangling in the hopes that I would open it. So up I got again and put the baby back in the box. After about 15 minutes of this, Amaretto finally decided to go in the box and settle down. It was then that I was able to sit down and finish was was now a rather cold cup of coffee! Our little Herbs are now on a new weaning diet and are taking to it simply wonderfully. They still have the Hills AD, but mixed in with that is James Wellbeloved mashed up kitten biscuits. I always like to start the babies off on a milk mixture first, and then progress to the soggy biscuit mixture, however, none of the Herbs were particularly keen on the milk mixture but love the AD. The only person not too happy about this is Graham because I have the bad habit of creating this concoction while he is cooking dinner :) All it really involves in putting the biscuits in a cup, pour boiling water over them and stand there mashing them all up for about 20 minutes to it looks like a "glop" (I won't say what Graham calls it). Anyway, yesterday I started mashing the biscuits in with the AD and every single Herb thought it was great so I'm really pleased. That will actually be their main diet now, although they will be given other foods here and there such as cooked chicken, fish etc. The good thing about the mashed up biscuits is that when the babies come to wanting to eat the dry kitten biscuits, the flavour won't be alien to them and they should take to the biscuits quite well. Today is also the second day now that I haven't had to use a syringe for feeding little Thyme at all which is great. I've packed them all back in the cupboard now so our kitchen no longer looks like a hospital department! The Herbs are all starting to develop their own little personalities now which is fantastic. I really need to make an effort though to distinguish which of the Siamese is which. If I weigh them, I know automatically who is who, but when they are together in the box or running around the room, I do tend to get them mixed up. Sage's personality is coming through more apparently than the others so far. She is a little piggy, a little bully, and a very clean kitten, with some rude manners. (should fit in well with the rest of the Schimmel cats then).

Day 23 - February 9, 2005

Much better news today for our darling Thyme. He now weighs 182 grams!!!! I happened to be speaking with Donna about him and she mentioned that now he's 3 weeks old, I could try him on Hills AD which I always have in the house but didn't think of using. At lunchtime yesterday, I opened a tin, put some on my finger and he ate it as if he were starving. Within 1 minute, he was then eating it straight from the saucer and he has since managed a minimum of one teaspoon at every meal which is absolutely fantastic. It seems to be really making such a difference with him. I fed him on it every 2 hours up until 11:30pm, and when I weighed him first thing this morning, he hadn't lost any weight at all. I fed him again at 7am today and will continue with the 2 hourly feeds of the AD. On another good note........the rest of the Herbs all now eat from a saucer. Not all at once, but one at a time, each sitting on my lap. They absolutely love the AD and can't seem to get enough of it. So they will now be on 5 weaning meals a day from here on in. I'm hoping that by towards the end of next week, I will simply be able to put the plate of food down and they will go straight to it. I'm really pleased with all their progress over the last 24 hours. Unfortunately though, when the Herbs are awake now, you truly need to wear ear muffs because they squeal as they run about. Yesterday, all 6 Herbs, finally realised that it's very easy to climb out of the box and create havoc which is exactly what they do. There is absolutely no stopping them now. Poor Amaretto is being run ragged trying to keep an eye on them. And it doesn't help that as soon if she's in the box and they climb out, rather than pick them up, she looks up at me, makes a noise and then I have to put them back in the box. It's now 8:17am, I've only been up since 7am, and have spent most of my time bending down and picking up babies.

Day 22 - February 8, 2005

Not much of an entry today as I have a few things to do that are keeping me quite busy (inbetween feeding of course). Weaning has been going okay. Four out of the six Herbs will now drink from a saucer, not at every meal, but most of them so that' very encouraging. Little Thyme had lost 2 grams overnight so I'm feeding him quite a bit today in the hopes that he will gain again. I came downstairs last night to get something from the kitchen and as I turned on the light downstairs, I was hearing lots and lots of squealing and rushed to the back room to have a look, only to find all six Herbs were out of the box, running around all over the back room, having the time of their lives. Poor Amaretto was half in/half out of the box, watching them with a panicked look on her face, as if wondering what she should do. They sneaky little babies, up until now, have been pretending that they aren't really interested in getting out but obviously, the take advantage of the evening and have little Herb parties while their human mummy isn't around.

Day 21 - February 7, 2005 (3 weeks old today!)

Great news! Thyme has at last gained a little weight and we're all thrilled to bits. He now weighs 173grams! I know this doesn't sound like a lot but with his recent losses and no gains, then this is nothing short of a miracle :) I'm not sure why he has suddenly decided to gain again but I'm hoping he'll continue to keep gaining now. I had noticed a few days ago that whenever the Herbs were feeding, because Thyme is so small, he was constantly getting pushed out of the way so apart from the 2 hourly feeding I've been doing, I've also been making sure that he was latching on and staying on. This actually means that once he's found a nipple, I sit beside the box and "protect" that nipple with my hand so that no one can push him off. I also changed his mixture slightly as up until now, I'd been feeding him the standard milky type mixture, however, I made a new batch yesterday but this time I soaked some very good quality dry kitten biscuits, and mashed them up into the mixture and he really took to it. I think possibly the reason for the gains is a combination of the new mixture and the fact that he now feeds a bit more often from Amaretto. We've still got an awfully long way to go with Thyme but at least we are heading in the right direction at long last and I will continue to keep feeding him every couple of hours. I can't believe my Herbs are now 3 weeks old and as they are, I thought I would make a serious effort at weaning them this morning, just to see how they liked it. Thyme had no problems at all obviously as he's been drinking from the saucer now for a few days as he picked up the hang of it really quickly. I tried Sage first and she wasn't really that interested, although she did have a few licks from my finger which is a good start. Chives was very interested in the mixture but couldn't quite get the hang of what the saucer was for. Parsley surprised me because after 2 licks of the mixture from my finger, he started lapping it up straight out of the saucer. Rosemary and Tarragon weren't interested at all but that's fine as they're still so very young and there's no rush. I was really pleased with how well the Herbs seemed to take their first weaning session and will continue to try throughout the day now.